The drawings are gorgeous, no doubt about it and I actually enjoyed Nakyum’s flashback he had of this Inhun guy, as it shines quite a light on where Nakyum’s devotion came from. I get the feeling that it started with Nakyum seeing Inhun as almost like a father, which later changed into romantic feelings. I’ve been waiting for such a long time for a more in-depth look into Nakyum’s past, so to get even a slight glimpse into why Nakyum is so loyal to this man was actually a breath of fresh air.
What made me roll my eyes though is that we now immediately go to sex between Seungho and Nakyum again without any conversation about what happened in the last chapters.
I completely understand why Seungho wouldn’t talk about it. He’s self absorbed, damaged and probably doesn’t feel the need to explain himself to someone who is so far below in social standing from himself. But this also unfortunately shows that he again didn’t really evolve as a character to at least vocalize to Nakyum that he feels bad for what he did after unfairly judging and punishing him yet again for something he didn’t do.
I also understand why Nakyum wouldn’t say anything. Seungho has power over him and treats him however he sees fit. He also doesn’t know yet that Seungho knows the truth, so I guess he just assumes his captor calmed down. Which seems almost manipulative on Seungho’s part for not letting Nakyum know. With that he keeps him in suspense of his next actions. It would also slightly change the emotional power dynamic if Seungho actually admitted he was wrong and giving Nakyum a slight leg to stand on. It would give Nakyum some “power” in later arguments to be able to call Seungho out on his presumptuous behavior and over reactions . Without it, it must look to Nakyum like Seungho is just “benevolent” enough to forgive him his transgressions that Nakyum knows he actually never committed. So he continues to walk on eggshells. It’s quite sad actually but as weird as it sounds, I wouldn’t really call this a flaw in writing right now because of the historical context and the fact that Seungho is a spoiled but also mentally damaged noble and Nakyum is a nobody. But for this to move forward there needs to be a change out of this rigid formula of “Nakyum being accused of stuff he didn’t do, Seungho punishing him with rape, Seungho finding out the truth and attacking his former lover, him calming down again with Nakyum who is none the wiser and Seungho never telling Nakyum that he’s sorry, or actually letting Nakyum know that he found out the truth (water on painting incident/running away), and actually trying to actually change his behavior by addressing his own shortcomings”. We need a break in the cycle or this will become stale fast. I might be presumptuous here as the next chapter isn’t released yet but from what is shown in this chapter it just looks like they are going to have sex again and never talk about what happened or why Seungho is all of a sudden soft with Nakyum again. I assume they are going to enter an “all is bliss” phase, where they both just ignore everything that’s wrong and then Nakyum will probably be kidnapped by this other dude who wants to rape and kill him. Seungho this time finally won’t just presume Nakyum ran away and find him before major damage has been done. Nakyum will see him as his savior and Seungho actually never has to talk about his own issues or apologize. I hope it will be more intricate than this.
I agree with the character analysis part completely, but I actually don't think it'll turn out like that, with the way that everything happened, someone else kidnapping Nakyum would be pretty stupid on their part. If it does happen, though, I'm hoping that this Era of bliss will strengthen their relationship enough for them to be able to talk openly so that if it does happen next, they'll actually speak to each other and clear the air.
I agree with everything you’ve just said, it was well thought out and honestly addressed something I've been feeling ab the manga since I had began reading it as well as other mangas where the victim falls in love with their r*pist/kidnapper 10/10 comment!
Normally I agree but a next kidnapping has been foreshadowed a couple chapters back. It was when Seungho broke into his former lover’s mansion and almost killed him. This other dude popped up out of nowhere after everything was done and vocalized how he wants to “enjoy” Nakyum before killing him. So I assume that another kidnapping will be happening. And I don’t look forward to this at all. (〜￣△￣)〜
What is aggravating to me is that this webtoon is actually good in the sense of me understanding why the main characters are the way they are because of the historical context, their hinted at backstories and their social standing. My problem is that the author is always just dancing around this issue and barely scraping the surface of it. And we know the author is aware because she/he is scraping that surface continuously without actually diving in finally. We see this by how side characters react to their “un-consensual liaison”. Seungho’s noble “friends/lovers” make fun of him for fraternizing with a low born. His main former lover voices his disgust at this. We see Nakyum being kidnapped and almost killed like he’s not a human but an obstacle that can just be killed. We see certain servants knowing that Nakyum doesn’t have a choice but also that those servants have no legal right to help him. We see it with how Seungho treats Nakyum and how Nakyum is helpless here. It’s always shown to us on this surface level so the author knows exactly what’s going on. They just don’t dive in to fully address this by finally having Seungho and Nakyum address it openly in conversation. That’s why I’m still holding on because it always seems like it will someday happen. I lost my optimism on this ever being addressed until Nakyum’s Noona said what many readers must have been thinking already. And of course Seungho’s servant confronting him. This gives me hope, that is being squashed a little with this latest chapter. But I’m still holding on. Sorry for the long ramble (づ￣ ³￣)づ
Yes! Everything that Seungho has put him thru needs to be addressed but instead the author glosses over it by insetting a sex scene and it’s incredibly frustrating because I’ve been in a relationship similar to this, ofc I wasn’t held captive and could’ve left anytime, but it never seemed like an option for me and I’m still in therapy because of it and ,as you pointed out, seeing how Na-kyum is unaware to the fact that Seungho knows he didn’t run away on his own makes it seem like he’s this “forgiving and occasionally kind” person and him r*ping Na-kyum is always brushed off because in the following scene he’s nice to him and it’s???
It’s really frustrating to have yet another sex scene without there at least being an attempt made to resolve what happened between the two main characters. And that’s just weird to me as this was such a major break in their “relationship”. And we get nothing. Right now it’s always Seungho/angry=rape and Seungho/calm= rape but less forceful. I’ve started to reread this webtoon and honestly I liked the chapters before they have “sex” much more. There is much more establishment to their characters and their surroundings. They have conversations that lead to tense moments and Nakyum is actually showing a backbone. Now everything has almost become stagnant, which is a shame. I was actually relieved when we finally got to the kidnapping and ensuing drama but the consequences for Nakyum were to be treated again as a toy which resulted in yet another brutal rape scene . Now Seungho resolved what happened for himself without giving Nakyum any clues and the end result is again “rape”. And Nakyum is turning into a boring trope of becoming one dimensional. He has no ambition in his life other than to please the men around him. There is some spark here and there but it always just pertains to Nakyum snapping whenever Seungho insults Inhun. So again, it’s about another man. Whenever he was exposed to indignities against himself he mostly shown rather meek outrage, surprise and tears. The frustrating part about it is that it makes some sense given the context. The only thing I wish for is that he would get at least half as mad about himself as he gets whenever Seungho insults Inhun. It’s shows that he can get angry over indignities but lacks a lot of self esteem, yet is smart enough to know that he can be exposed of easily. It makes sense. It’s just a little confusing to me as “relationships” and the same kind of behavior is a common trope in webtoons/ mangas and to see the same kind of tropes play out in a self aware webtoon where it wouldn’t make too much sense for them to act otherwise is messing with my senses.I’m so sorry you were in an abusive relationship yourself and I’m happy you were able to get out of it.
With how aware the author is about Seungho’s mental state and the danger he poses to others, especially Nakyum, makes me hope that she will address his problems in an intriguing and “realistic” way. And not the usual “I’m an asshole but my “love” for you changed me”. Her answer to the question if they would be happy in the end, seems to confirm my notion of her not ignoring that Seungho is extremely damaged, which his high status perpetuates even more.
I agree I love the respect paid to his mental state, not just "lol he crazy cray"
Why are so many people already pissed at the ML? The MC was a major c**t in his former life and I’m not surprised he didn’t inspire any tender feelings in the ML.The MC gave as good as he got as well. MC already redeemed himself through living a different life and we sympathize with him. The ML didn’t have that chance yet and is only a snot nosed 15 year old asshole right now, who apparently met his 12 year old fiancé before and is indifferent to him for obvious reasons. MC woke up after the transmigration and judging by his siblings first reactions to him, he was a brat. So I’m not surprised that the ML doesn’t care and teases, as far as he knows, a self centered and dumb young kid who he’s forced to be engaged to. So I want to see their relationship develop here and don’t hope (yet) for a different love interest ╮(￣▽￣)╭
I know many are pissed at the ML for comparing the MC to a beautiful but useless flower (I suppose he’s comparing him to ornamental flowers, who’s only purpose is decorative) but I also see why. From the past we see the MC describing his former self as spoiled and narcissistic, so I’m not surprised by the comparison. And inciting a rebellion? Even though I understand why, it shouldn’t come as no surprise that the ML got rid of his enemies. And he also paid the price for his pride as we learn that the rebellion succeeded and he and his family got killed as well. So I see this more as two stubborn and rigid idiots, who didn’t get along and didn’t even try to become closer, getting another chance. Both are at fault for those tragic events. I’m open to the redeeming of the ML as much as I accept the MC being redeemed
Because he used the MC to get in the line of succession. His brother born from the empress was likely to inherit the throne, so he lied to the MC to get to the throne. Once the empress (brother mom) died, he immediately kicked the MC off and vowed his love to the recessed omega, humiliating the MC.
Also, he killed the MC whole family when he could just demote them as commoner
..is a queen of reason. Nakyum needs to wake up and realize he’s being used and manipulated. Nakyum is exhausting my patience and understanding. Honestly, him going on again how he wants to help his learned sir still, after the latter told him to prostitute himself, makes me start to dislike Nakyum. I thought he realized that Inhun is using him in that moment and that he started to think a little for himself (given his shocked expression). But I guess, he didn’t after all. His Stockholm syndrome in regards to Seungho is in full force and I’m getting sick of seeing Nakyum cry all the time and remaining long suffering. I like that the servant spoke up to Seungho but honestly, I wouldn’t be able to take it seriously if all it takes is a “therapy session” with Noona and the servant to make both of them realize how messed up their relationship is. Nakyum needs to leave. It’s just weird to me to not see Nakyum change or evolve in regards to how people treat him. The learned sir could demand anything he wants apparently, and Nakyum would just go along, without any change of feelings towards him. Seungho can also apparently treat Nakyum as he wants, just has to bat his eyelashes and be “kind” for a second to get Nakyum to like him back. I’m sorry to say it but Nakyum is pathetic. As is Seungho and the learned sir. And soon we will probably have another kidnapping where Nakyum gets raped by this other dude, Seungho thinks he ran away again, Nakyum getting out of it by some miracle and Seungho thinking yet again Nakyum ran away and continues to use sexual violence as a form of punishment. I’m getting sick of this non evolving plot cycle.
This guy is the supreme overlord of puppet masters with everyone dancing to his tune. I get major Hannibal vibes from him. He knows peoples feelings and deepest fears. Puts suggestions into people’s minds to see what would happen, without making his own hands dirty. He delights in people messing up their lives for his amusement. He also always seems to know when shit is going down and appears out of nowhere to see his handiwork playing out in front of him. I’d like to read a story about this psychopath. Seungho is too predictable and unstable. Easy to manipulate. Major anger management issues. Abusive childhood (like usual). It’s getting a little boring now to watch him continue the same behavioral patterns. He believes something about Nakyum, punishes him, discovers the truth, takes revenge, rapes Nakyum (regardless if it’s punishment or a show of “affection”). And Nakyum just cries. (〜￣△￣)〜
I suppose they were designed to serve as palate cleansers. It’s an interesting idea and Nakyum now being the noble lord who calls Seungho a “lowborn” and “rascal” might be an attempt to show that if the social standing was reversed that Nakyum would look also down on people who are not of his social class. Like an attempt to soften the blow from the main story where Seungho looks down his nose at Nakyum and treats him like a toy because his own high status gives him the freedom to do so. To make it clear that outlook and behavior can be influenced by how you are raised. But honestly it’s not too well thought out as they still behave the same way here. Nothing in their characters changed. If Nakyum was a noble, he wouldn’t just let a low born drag him about. If Seungho was a low born, he would be more careful while dealing with a noble and not taunt him out in the open, drag him off and more or less sexually assault him. He might do so with men of his own standing but him doing so with someone of high class, who he doesn’t know, where he can’t predict his reaction to such audacity, is just dumb. And that makes me now wonder more than ever how much the author actually understands the psychology of people of different social classes in a historic setting. I know it’s just a fun side story of “what if” but I don’t see a purpose in it if nothing changed but their social class.
who would read this?
I’m not bothered by the age gap. It’s only 5 years, and would only be icky if the king tried to put the moves on her now. I’m more concerned by the power imbalance between Nina, who is a mere maid, and the King who has the power over life and death. But I also have to say, the king already showed creeper behavior when she was only 14. Might not have been his intention but it still made me think of him as a grooming predator (in a way). But I also understand that with him being the king, he wouldn’t concern himself with thoughts about how his treatment of Nina could impact her reputation negatively in the palace. I hope this will be addressed as I always liked stories about social/class gaps in romantic relationships and the ensuing problems because of it. I’ve never read the novel so I don’t know if this will be glossed over or not.
Is it really a five year age gap? Isn't the king around 20 and Nina 15? I get that she had a previous life and stuff but i couldn't respect any 20 year old that gets with someone who's around 15. But yeah even if I was wrong with the ages, there is such a huge power imbalance and the king also seems to treat her like property so I don't think that'll be solved anytime soon. Aside from that, I've always thought nina was the king's relative or even daughter because both of them have the same eye color so I'm extra creeped out by the idea that they might have a romantic relationship.
When I think about it honestly, Seungho didn’t have any character development at all in the middle. I know one can say “but he treated Nakyum more softly and protected him” and all that jazz but this really didn’t have anything to do with character development or soul searching. Before he ever met Nakyum this guy was already a “fan” of his art. When he finally saw that Nakyum was a young and nubile boy, he became fascinated by the contradiction of his character. On one hand this is the artist who draws depictions of sodomy so well it turns Seungho on and on the other hand this kid is a shy virgin and probably not at all what Seungho pictures in his mind. He also gets turned on by Nakyum refusing him and not falling over him like the other guys. All this leads to his obsession and fantasies (that he fights) of being in love. But when you look at his actions, he’s forcing everything on Nakyum. He doesn’t care for his opinions, aspirations and thoughts. He only cares to own him. That’s just not love but a rather selfish greed he wrongfully thinks of as love. It’s only his “feelings” that make this “relationship” happen. It’s not reciprocated. Nakyum mentally seems to have given up and might have warmed up to Seungho showing his softer side but it really shows that he doesn’t trust this man. That’s why he doesn’t say the truth about the assassin. This is really telling to me that Nakyum, even though he started to “enjoy” those attentions, he’s very well aware that he can be discarded at a moments notice. This relationship is doomed. And I’m not really surprised that Seungho still acts the way he does in the newest chapters. We’ve only seen him being softer because Nakyum gave in and wouldn’t put up a fuss anymore. As soon as Seungho’s fantasy doesn’t align with the reality of things, he shows how callous and selfish he is. He immediately lashes out and punishes Nakyum by raping him and treating him like a hole. This guy didn’t develop at all. Nakyum is merely put on this obsession pedestal because he’s beautiful, didn’t run after him and is in love with that learned sir prick, and the artist who produces drawings of things that turn Seungho on. There is no real heart felt emotion. At least, I can’t see it. This can be a masterpiece if the author actually makes Seungho look into a mirror to see how ugly he is inside, reflects and changes. And not the usual “your love changed me”. Or “you are cruel and raped me but I fell in love with you and forgive you because of your childhood trauma”. I really hope it doesn’t go into that direction as the art is amazing.
you’re absolutely right! i got carried away by the part where seungho and nakyum had a liiitle bit of smoothing sailing but now you’ve put it into perspective for me.
I agree with both. If I didn't read this I would have easily been persuaded Seungho is changing. Stockholm Syndrome is a no no in my book
Thank you for seeing clearly what the artist has presented. The way BL readers are willing to forgive rapist characters they minute they go "soft" and call it "character development" is embarassing. The whole idea that anyone could consider "complex character development" a rapist becoming "nice" is...let's just be honest about what we're reading here.
Oh believe me, I also got blinded myself for awhile. As soon as Seungho acts like he always did when trouble arose and things started getting complicated he proved himself to be the same self centered man he was raised to be. I started looking back on previous chapters and it really becomes apparent that Seungho is only soft when Nakyum lets him do as he wants and even then it’s not always a given. I mean he started treating him coldly again when he thought to be in love and was absolutely appalled by the thought of loving a lowborn who doesn’t even reciprocate these emotions. He invited his other lovers and made a damn show out of letting Nakyum see that he doesn’t give a fuck when he kisses the other guy before slamming the door in Nakyum’s face. Which is hilarious because he forced Nakyum into a “relationship”. It’s not like Nakyum confessed and wanted to be his lover. So what was he trying to prove here? Seems to me like he was under the illusion that Nakyum would care and should be made aware of how replaceable he is. It’s narcissistic as hell. Did Seungho really think Nakyum would be under any illusions and put on airs because he thinks he’s special?? Why would he think Nakyum would think that when Seungho forced him into it in first place under threat of killing the guy he “loves”? This dude is really unaware how other people feel. Or did he think Nakyum would be grateful to be the “lover” of someone so high? Did he just assume that as his feelings grew, the feelings of his rape victim would naturally follow suit? Delusional as fuck! That also would explain why he acts all betrayed when he assumes that Nakyum fled. Remember the chapter his pride was attacked by this one guy taunting him about his soft feelings for a low born. What does he do? He drugs Nakyum and lets him be sexually assaulted by even more people. Even though he cut this short because of jealousy it shows even more that he views Nakyum as his possession and not a partner. I get the feeling the author is aware of Seungho’s flaws and selfishness and how utterly unequal this relationship was from the beginning. So I hope he will actually get some character development and self reflect. It just seems so obvious that Seungho doesn’t love Nakyum. It’s only about “me,me,ME!” with this dude. I hope this will be addressed and not be ignored with the generic bl tropes of “I had a bad childhood! Forgive and love me” or something similar.
I may or may not be a huge fan of Stockholm stories.. ooops ⁄(⁄ ⁄·⁄ω⁄·⁄ ⁄)⁄
Exactly. Of course readers want the main characters to end up with each other but I don’t see how this would be possible at all with how Seungho is acting. Nakyum is being reduced to some “love interest” for his rapist and that might be all he’s going to be in the end of this webtoon. Which i Hope won’t happen. I want to read about the Nakyum who had the balls to draw depictions of sodomy for profit to earn his living. This suggests that he wants more for himself, that he has aspirations for more. Not just ending up being strung along by some men in his life and waiting for affection that can be withheld as soon as he doesn’t please them anymore (Seungho, learned sir) . I hope he can flee and make something out of himself. I don’t really want this relationship to happen as of now. We would need like 200 chapters of Seungho reflecting and redeeming himself. He needs to let go of Nakyum. Nakyum needs to find himself. I want to see Seungho crawling on the ground and being rejected. There is some realism to this because of the time period and class difference between them where Seungho would think he can take whatever he wants. Especially him thinking he can do what he wants with Nakyum because he’s a low born. It just went too far for me to ever be satisfied with them ending up together. And realistically they would never be in a happy and equal relationship. Especially not after all what Seungho has done to him. I just want Nakyum to be free and happy. But I don’t see this happening at all because Nakyum also doesn’t get much character development. The only things he thinks about are Seungho and the learned sir. There is no outrage, no plans to escape, nothing to suggest that he is realizing that he’s only being used by those guys. Maybe towards the learned sir he finally sees who he is but this only falls under the bl trope “falling out of love with first guy and realizing that he sucks” which is followed by “I’m now falling in love with a guy who treats me even worse but at least is horny for me” trope. If it wasn’t like that, Nakyum would have actually had a moment of clarity regarding his learned sir and would apply it to other people as well. But no, he just doesn’t. At least I don’t see him thinking about any of that. He softens towards Seungho, which could be seen as him developing Stockholm syndrome but I don’t know if this will be treated in the serious manner. Or if it will be only another trope of “love conquers all/real love needs to suffer”. Let’s hope not.
What do we expect from a rapist and an abuser anyway?
Lol. Not much honestly. I’m not opposed to reading or watching stories about extreme people. Otherwise the entertainment industry would be quite dull if we were only presented with mundane and dull stories about mentally perfectly healthy people and their “hallmark movie” type relationships. What bothers me though is how often abuse in relationships, like rape, stalking and possessiveness is being romanticized and turned into an example of what “real” love is supposed to be. Further, slapping some sappy backstory onto the abuser, which absolves them of all accountability and responsibility for their own actions is very disrespectful for real life victims of abuse and quite irresponsible of an author or director. But we see this type of “conflict” resolution for toxic relationships all throughout the media. Its rare to see a toxic relationship in fiction presented as just that. There is always some excuse. Like bad childhoods, or victim blaming, where the abuser is presented as misunderstood by side characters which influence the opinion of the MC. One of the most annoying tropes is “your love changed me”. Which is just lazy.
The point of being an artist is being able to express yourself and your inner most fantasies which also means kinks. If romanticizing rape is their fantasy they should be able to use it as creation in their work because the reader should be at maturity enough to see that it is fiction an to not act on it, and/or expect it in real life. Same for murder thrillers, same for child soldiers (Naruto), gang affiliates, ect. Writing toony stories is NOT a self help book, NOT a seminar, it’s NOT trusted advice from a friend. Therefore shouldn’t be held to any standards of reality. You don’t blame the gun, you blame the gunman.
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P.s. LOVE can absolutely change people for the good.
Sorry for the late reply. I agree that authors should be able to write about whatever they wish to. My problem is that it’s always handled in the same boring and predictable manner. As i said before, reading about extreme people is interesting but it’s mostly handled in a repetitive recycling of tropes we are all familiar with. It becomes predictable as it’s always the same. Guy becomes obsessed with another person. Treats that person like dirt because “childhood trauma, cheating ex, revenge because a relative of the love interest did them wrong”. That in itself is fine as I expect a reason for the ML to be an emotionally immature asshole. But how it’s handled over and over again is eye roll inducing. The other person always falls in love while being abused by the ML, especially after hearing about childhood trauma. The ML is always forgiven after showing some “kindness” and then we get a “Happy End”. Of course I want a main couple to end up with each other but I’m annoyed that a ML (or FL) never has to take real accountability for their actions. Or that the object of their affection just forgives them immediately. I want to see more drama resulting from the ML’s behavior and face certain consequences.
And I have to disagree with you partly on “love can change a person”. I don’t think it’s that simple. An abuser can probably be inspired to want to better themselves, but for a “victim” to suddenly become solely responsible for their partner's behavior seems manipulative, especially if it’s voiced by the “abuser” like “I want to change for you, don’t leave me”. The want to change can only happen if the person wants to change out of an inner desire. It comes from within but is of course often influenced by negative reactions of outside forces. And I can see how a partner who is hurt and leaves, could become a motivation for the abuser to maybe self reflect. But it becomes unbelievable if that person only changes for the sake of love for their partner. I think it takes a lot of negative consequences for a person to change their ways. And that only happens if that person isn’t an utter narcissist. It would be nice for the author to explore this here.
It’s a little weird how the seme goes from trying to hook up with the uke, to tempting him to hook up with other guys. I suppose he wants him to explore his sexuality but I wonder if the seme actually wants the uke as a bed partner. Does he just not want an inexperienced sex partner? Is he pissed at being rejected and gets a kick out of rejecting the uke later? Like what’s the deal here? I get a bdsm vibe from the seme. Not with chains and stuff (yet?) but the ordering around, him kind of pimping him out and such makes me think he’s slowly easing him in to making him more receptive to whatever he actually wants from him. The last chapter just throws me off. What happened? I don’t believe the uke just fell asleep out of nowhere. Something is going on with this dude, and I don’t really think it’s anything good. There are certainly no romantic feelings involved. I think he gets a kick out of turning the uke into some kind of sex pot who craves him. Or it’s an elaborate joke he shares with his friends in how he is turning this straight playing kid gay or something. Like in that manga “ Miwaku Shikake - Amai Wana”. Similar vibe.
I just think that the point of everything here is only the teasing. author is just teasing us. That's why it's gonna take more chapters for us to see actual sex lol
lol. I checked out her other works and think I might have read too much into the seme’s intentions. All her works are less focused on the psychology of the human mind, or romance but rather unapologetic smut and sexual freedom.
..subtly the author shows how mentally messed up Eclise actually is without having to spell it out. We see some glimpses like the time he almost “accidentally” killed her on the training grounds that one time. And from what I remember, Penelope could tell he was lying when he told her it was an accident. And his approval was relatively high at that time already which makes this action seem even more strange when you look back on it. And that leads me to actually talk about the approval rating that is just skyrocketing with Eclise for really no reason whatsoever. She bought him and started showing dominance towards him and his approval just went up out of nowhere like something is not quite right with Eclise. It’s just obvious that a normal person wouldn’t instantly warm up to the person that bought them just because they throw some fair sounding commands at them. Unless one is a masochist who gets off on that. The brothers are more or less assholes and we can kind of measure how their behavior changes with the approval rating. They tolerate her and I rather see their “nicer” actions guided by feelings of guilt over their own past behavior against Penelope and less real feelings of affection. So for Eclise to fall on his knees from the beginning in a show of “genuine” devotion seems fake. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not about him bowing down to her, as she is his master and has to act obedient, but it’s him making such a show of this fake devotion from so early on that rubs me the wrong way. Especially looking at the approval before it rose up to 40%.
And I live for this. Penelope is extremely careful with the people around her but because Eclise seems to bring the least amount of trouble, and because she wants to go home to her own life where she was finally able to reach independence, she ignores the warning signs. And she’s aware of something being not quite right already, as proven by her purposefully ignoring her being aware that Eclise wanted to kill her in that one moment and lied about it being accidental.
I also think many readers ignore the danger and weirdness of Eclise’s rising approval rating like he’s a Mercury thermometer sitting in a pot of boiling water, because this is a webtoon and we are so accustomed to love interests falling all over themselves to be with the MC for no good reason in similar stories. His vibe is just off in comparison to other characters and that rising obsession creeps me out. I unfortunately learned months ago about a certain spoiler pertaining Eclise but I’m in awe of how amazingly subtle this is already being foreshadowed.
And I love that Penelope has this flaw in still being emotionally distant to the world she was flung into. She wants to get out of there and not even once has seen the people around her as real people but mere game characters. And that’s why I think she ignores the red flags about Eclise and his creepy approval rise. She still views it as a game, so it makes sense to her that Eclise’s approval is rising up so fast for not too much reason. It’s game logic and her actions are guided by that logic. Which makes her unwittingly cruel in that aspect. Those people don’t really exist to her, so she doesn’t feel bad for making a “game” character fall in love with her and planning to leave them behind. I adore this story!!
woah thats a long ass essay
Spoiler
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Eclise will betray Penelope.
...uhmmm, longer spoiler please?
aw damn...
Lol. I know. I’ve addressed it in a round about manner as I didn’t really want to spoil it for people who don’t know yet, and who didn’t read the title where I mention that this is a spoiler. I’m just amazed at how expertly this is set up. So when it finally happens it won’t feel like it came out of nowhere. The writing is just superb and I’m gushing ヾ(☆▽☆)
Honestly I feel you. I don’t tend to reply to comments or such but everything you just said was true. I think that’s one the reasons this story is so interesting. The royal life” cliche has become popular since last year and the concept of villains/villainess reincarnating, duchess/princess living happily ever after and such are common stories. However a lot of the time the backstory of the heroine and how she was reincarnated in the novel is almost non existant. I understand stories where the heroine died in her previous life but the question of why she was reincarnated is always a mystery. Other times normal everyday people just randomly reincarnate into novels and it doesn’t always make sense.
Penelope has a grasp of both fantasy and reality which I just love about her. She’s always thinking about how to survive and get out of the game. She’s cunning and her personality doesn’t change because of the male love interests. At the end of the day, I hope she completes the story with a good ending and returns home. I’d love to see how she handles the situation when she arrives back home in Korea.
Also yeah basically Eclis is sus and has been since the beginning. He was extremely obedient for a man who could slaughter people with his bare hands. Penelope herself even knew that he cared more about the ring she had that could electrocute him than Penelope herself. Penelope is showing signs of warming up to Eclis which hopefully is a facade. If not, then she has grown to trust Eclis too much when the fact is he could stab her in the back anytime despite his pledge of loyalty. He’s just extremely sus overall and he gives me yandere vibes. I honestly think out of everyone: her two brothers(assholes btw), the mysterious bunny guy(who she can’t trust despite looking like a gentlemen), Eclis(the sus knight who gives me yandere vibes), and the crown prince, the crown prince seems like the best choice honestly, I think if her plan of fooling the crown prince into thinking she’s in love with him works, she has a possibility of completing the game. Also we never know, they could fall for each other and end up together
Nooo.
love your essay anyway which chapter does he accidently hurts her. I forgot so i wanna see it again.
Yes! I love transmigration stories, especially with a villainess but it’s always more or less the same set up, with the same stale tropes. So this story is refreshing. Especially because you can empathize with the “original” Penelope. It’s all laid out why she became such a vitriolic person.
And I love how the MC also empathizes with her as she had the same kind of life. What gives me live is that she was actually flung into this world after Penelope was already established as a mad dog, so the only thing to be done was damage control. I’m so sick of stories where the MC is flung into the villainess while still being a child. So all the interesting backstories and relationship dynamics between characters that we see in a first chapter are non existent. And it’s so annoying how a MC just easily makes everyone love and pine for her by merely breathing. As fantastical as the setup for this story about an otome game is, it treats the psychology of the characters in a really realistic manner. The brothers don’t just suddenly love her because the MC acts differently to preset expectations a couple of times. They distrust her, continue to dislike her and are more motivated by guilt because “Penelope” subtly holds up a mirror to their faces that forces them to look at their own ghastly behavior in the past and present. And not because they love her for her acting differently . The MC also doesn’t go all Disney princess in trying to make them like her or her liking and fawning over them. She dislikes them and is scared to death of them. But she also doesn’t come off as genuinely apologetic because she knows that Penelope is not a villainess but an abused and mistreated person. She is angry for Penelope. The MC is as damaged by the abuse she endured as Penelope but developed differently. She has hope to get out of there. Hope that Penelope never had. So her snapping at the younger brother was so raw and righteous, it gave me life. It felt justified and realistic. She was careful not to step on anyone’s feet but couldn’t take it anymore after the younger brother just snapped at her with vile insults. It was amazing how he just tried to bait her because of his own anger and resentment. Gave me quite the fright about what would happen after she gave as good as she got. This is quite uncommon in stories like this. Normally, after the MC establishes a more neutral/positive relationship with another character, resentments are suddenly forgotten and never brought up again. The relationship just continues to go smoothly. Not here where the brother was just consumed by anger over the past and him viewing her as an interloper. The approval rating actually dropped. It was glorious and so realistic, I couldn’t believe it. The rabbit magician also doesn’t fall all over her. With a setup like this and realistic relationship development, Eclise just doesn’t fit into this picture. He’s the odd one out. And yes, I definitely get yandere vibes from him.
The prince is just extremely interesting and I can’t wait until we finally get more of him. I wonder if he continues to actually think Penelope is in love with him or if he’s aware that she actually just lied to get out of the situation. Just by rereading that chapter it looks like he actually knows she was lying about it.
I understand why you want her not to bond with anyone romantically as it’s so refreshing to read about a MC who is not getting all gooey. But honestly I want her to fall in love and I don’t think it would ruin the story because of how realistically the characters behave. I think she would be in denial and fight against it. I really want to see her falling in love because I think it would be interesting to see how she would handle it. I would also like to see a romance being approached in a way how every other aspect has been approached in this story so far. Realistically and surprising.
The MC is a quite disenchanted and somber young person, so seeing her experiencing new emotions for the first time would be fascinating to read about.
It’s in chapter 30 where he almost hurts her and she thinks about his behavior and how she knows he would kill her if given the opportunity. But she also is desperate so decides she can’t stop now. It’s quite chilling. I love it!
thx
Hi can I copy and paste this?? Don’t worry I will will give a credit(⌒▽⌒)
Go ahead (づ￣ ³￣)づ